Yamaguchi, Figures Partner Decide To Split

SAN JOSE, CALIF. — Kristi Yamaguchi and Rudi Galindo, winners of the last two national championships in pairs figure skating, have split up so Yamaguchi can concentrate on singles.

That decision has forced Galindo, 20, of San Jose to resume a singles career he abandoned after winning the World Junior Championship in 1988.

Yamaguchi, 18, of Fremont, Calif., had continued to compete in both pairs and singles with remarkable success, finishing second in singles at the nationals the last two years. In 1989, she became the first U.S. woman in 36 years to win medals in more than one event.

The demands of doing both were increasingly wearing on the 5-foot, 88-pound Yamaguchi. The situation became more complicated last year when she moved to Edmonton to be with her singles coach and their longtime pairs coach died.

Yamaguchi finished fourth in singles in the 1990 World Championships, but she was second in the free skating, all that counts next year with compulsory figures gone. The pair finished fifth in the last two World Championships.

The decision was undoubtedly based on the likelihood that Yamaguchi will be a medal favorite in singles at the 1992 Winter Olympics but will have virtually no chance to medal in pairs. Top singles skaters also have much more lucrative post-competition careers than pairs skaters.